The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-10-09
How Coercion is Coercing.

i
It Is now good many weeks since the APP
plication OF the Crimes act to tho whole OF
ireland, and since the meetings Of the
( National League were proclaimed unlawful
3 in q largo number Of counties. To enforce
their purposes the agents OF the Tory Gov
eminent have had the whole machinery OF
Justice and administration supported by
hugo constabulary and some thirty thousand
soldiers. But what, as amatter OF fact, nave
they accomplished Have they broken up
a single branch OF the Leaguep Have they
lodged single Nationalist chief In jail
II Ia true that the Dublin authorities have
arrested Mr.. WILLIAM OBRIEN and OBJ
tanned from subservient magistrate the
sentence for which they asked. But the
Crimes act, which robbed Irishmen OF the
trial by jury and the writ OF habeds corpus.
omitted to debar them also from the privi-
lege of appeal. To that privilege, according
", the editor Of United ireland had recourse,
and as under the circumstances his claim
to be admitted to bail could not be denied,
he has been at large ever since his pretended
conviction, advocating from the platform
and In the columns Of his paper with the
same unflinching spirit steadfast adher-
ence to the plan Of campaign and the I'M
wavering assertion Of the fundamental
rights OF political cooperation, free meeting,
and free speech. 1t is clear, then, that the
preliminary attempt Of BALFoUR, backed by
all the resources Of an empire, to snuff out
one editor. is humiliating failure.
n Next came the demonstration against
Lord Mayor SULLIVAN, who, rs proprietor
OF the Nation, had also been guilty Of pub
4 fishing reports Of the unidentified meetings
OF suppressed branches Of the League. The
proceedings OF such meetings were obviously
news of the keenest interest to Irish
men; nevertheless, under the regime con-
trlved for Ireland, 1t is averred to be
crime for newspapers to publish them
About obtaining q conviction In the first
instance for this alleged offence there
had been, as we have seen, no difficulty in
the case Of O'BRIEN, even at Mitchelstown,
and no rebuff could have been looked for I'M
der the shadow of the walls Of Dublin Castle.
But now the magistrate himself, whose pill
+, ancy had been relied upon, shocked BALFoUR
and astounded the landlord party by declar-
Z ing that O'SULLIvAN's accusers had failed
to fix upon him any violation of the law.
Is this, then, the beggarly sum total of the
work as yet achieved by the tremendous
engine of coercion, upon forging which q
whole session of Parliament was wasted ?
No, we should not omit to credit the Crimes
not and its enforcers with the murder Of
half q dozen inoffensive citizens at Mitchels-
town. who had been guilty Of assembling
under the free air to hear questions Of
national importance expounded by their
4 lawful delegates to the national legislature.
This, so far, is the net outcome Of the re-
dictionary programme which BALFoUR UNI
dertook to carry out with the extra-judicial
and repressive machinery made ready to his
hand The National League remains intact,
the plan Of campaign is mistaken, the jails
are empty. Only in the hospitals Of Mitch
elstown the groans Of the bruised and
wounded bear witness to the malign inten-
tions Of tho Government, and the Crimes
acts efficiency Is stamped upon six new
made graves.